Thank You
by cm757
Summary: My take on what happened after the last episode, 2x22. Steve and Kono have a little talk. And something more.


**Thank You**

**Authors note: Hey guys! So I got the impression you guys wouldn't mind this one-shot at all (thank God, because I so wanted to write it) and so here it is, as promised, and before the next episode. This actual came to me in a dream, well, the first part anyway, and it just kind of grew after that. So! Many thanks to Tiana-P, Sidalee, and h50rookie for helping me with this, giving me their opinions and generally just being awesome.**

**So, onto reading now! Hope you enjoy!**

"It's good to have you back, boss." Kono smiles from the doorway, dimples showing. He smiles back because it's almost impossible not to, her smile is that contagious.

"It's good to be home." He repeats, standing up from his chair and leaning against the desk. "So, Danny made me promise that we'd go out for drinks to celebrate that I'm still alive." He chuckles, seeing her smile of amusement. "You wanna come? Chin'll be there too."

The smile is still present when she goes to answer that yes, she'd love to, because it's not every day that they even get a break to hang out together, just the four, but then the smile fades a little and she has to school her features in order to not let anything get past. "Sorry boss, I have some stuff I need to do." She tries to keep it short, not give him too much information. "Take a rain check?"

Kono's waiting for him to answer, already turning to leave but then she notices that he doesn't seem that keen on doing so. He crosses his arms on his chest and looks at her for a few seconds before clearing his throat. "Adam Noshimuri?"

It catches her off guard and she has to stop herself from asking if she heard right, if he actually said that name, in the _tone_ that he said it, but he's still looking at her, still expecting a reaction and she really doesn't have anything else to tell him besides what she already told Chin. But then again, Chin's the only one who actually knew, so she begins to wonder. How does _he_ know?

"You two were pretty obvious about it when HPD arrived." He says as if he's reading her thoughts (it's not the first time he does something like that, seriously, it annoys her) and he just keeps staring. Just staring.

She takes a deep breath because she's tempted to start playing with her fingers or analyze the certificates he has on the wall behind him, but she lets it out and wills herself to at least give him a proper answer.

"Uh, yeah," She says, nodding slightly. "I'm just gonna check up on him. See how he's doing."

Steve bits down the urge to laugh. "I'm not stupid, Kono."

And it's her turn to resist the urge of laughing because really, she thinks he's made that pretty clear already. I mean, he _does_ chase criminals for a living, and is very successful at it. So of course he's not stupid.

She starts to think she shouldn't be so happy about that.

"What do you wanna know?" she asks in a sigh, turning fully towards him.

He shrugs, looking at a spot over her shoulder. "Why didn't you tell us?"

She does laugh at that, filling the room with it because really, he can figure that one out. She bites her lip and just shakes her head. "You guys would have talked me out of it."

"He's dirty, Kono." it surprises her how much caring fills his voice. Still, she tries to argue.

"He's not-"

"He almost killed me." He cuts in, voice now sharp and curt and not at all like the one he had two seconds ago. "And tied _you_ up from what I've heard."

She makes a mental side note to have a little talk with Chin after this.

Kono looks away, suddenly a little embarrassed for even trying to defend Adam. "Yeah. I know."

Steve looks at her for a few more seconds before stepping away from his desk. "Can I just ask you something?"

It surprises her he's even asking for permission. She rolls her eyes. "Ask away."

"What did you see in him?"

She frowns, now meeting Steve's eyes. She can't read him, his face clear of all emotion and his chin tilted up, staring down at her. There he goes with the staring again.

"I don't know." She murmurs. "He was just… you know, the cliché." She laughs lightly. "Smart, nice and cute." She pauses for a moment, looks into Steve's eyes. "And he was there."

There's another small moment of silence before Steve nods, finally taking a seat on the chair behind his desk again. "Ok. I was just curious, I guess." He clears his throat one more time, giving her a lopsided smirk. She nods back in acknowledgment.

"If there isn't anything else," Kono starts, questioning him with her eyes.

He looks like he wants to say something, she realizes. It's weird because he's not really the _pondering_ over things type, so this is definitely new. For a moment she sees the uncertainty but then he's talking, and she's able to snap out of it in order to catch what he's saying.

"He doesn't deserve you."

And she wants to smile and thank him a million times and maybe even tease him a little for the unease he deals with all of this but she just stands there, watching him and processing his words and she's about to ask why he's telling her that when she hears footsteps in the hall, and then voices. Danny and Chin have arrived.

"Thanks, boss." She settles for that, promising to herself to think about this when she's at home and alone and there's no one around to bother her, so she heads for the door, but his voice stops her again.

"Steve," she turns, frowning. "It's Steve, not boss." He looks at her from the corner of his eye, already bent over the pile of files waiting for him, and this time she does smile another dimpled smile and laughs a little.

"Thanks, Steve."

…..

Steve thanks the guard to his left and walks further into the room, ignoring the curious and skeptical glances he's getting because he should have remembered to leave his badge at the office. But oh well, it's too late now so he just keep walking until he finds the chair he's supposed to sit on. He does, and picks the phone up immediately, bringing it up to his ear.

He stays in silence for a long moment, staring the man in front of him down. He takes a look around the room, taking his time before looking at the man again, and then he starts talking.

"So. Noshimuri. How's orange been treating you?" If there's any hint of sarcasm on Steve's voice, Adam chooses to ignore it.

Still he keeps quiet, not exactly in the mood to talk. Not to Steve, at least. "How's Kono?" he asks, instead, eyes full of regret and worry.

Steve laughs at that, chest heaving with the weight of the dryness in it. He turns back to Adam. "You lost the right to ask about her the _moment_ you put her in danger."

And Adam's quiet again. Because he knows Steve is right. Even if he won't admit it.

"She's fine." Steve ends up saying- curtly. And if there is something in his voice that tells him he's only telling Adam this to emphasize that Kono is just _fine_ without him, neither one of them says a word.

"Good." Adam acknowledges, dropping his gaze. "Good." He repeats.

"You could have avoided this." Steve points out, voice now a little more controlled than before. "Wo Fat isn't worth this."

"He killed my _father_." Adam responds, anger and furiousness present in his voice. "I had to do it."

"No, you didn't." Steve says, leaning in closer. "And, you see, that's the difference between you and me. He had my father murdered too. But I didn't kill him." He stops for a second. "And I had every opportunity in the world to do it. But I didn't. I'm gonna let him rot in jail as that bastard deserves."

It's Adam's turn to laugh dryly at that. "It's not the first time he escapes prison, McGarrett. And you know that."

"I do." Steve says, leaning back in the chair. "But I'm gonna make sure it doesn't happen again."

Adam nods, not at all convinced and remains silent.

And since Steve can't look at the guy in front of him any longer without giving in to the urge to break the damn glass separating the two and punch him in the face, he gets up with very intention to leave.

"You take care of Kono, alright?"

Steve freezes on the spot, glancing at Adam from the corner of his eye. He sees genuine concern on his face. He feels something clenching inside him at the realization of just how _big_ their relationship really was. And he (along with Danny and Chin, truth be told) had been completely oblivious to it.

"I will." He promises, more to himself than Adam, really, but does it matter? He's already being taken back to his cell and Steve has no other option but to turn around and leave this Ungodly place. Too many people know who he is here.

…

She finally takes that rain check. Danny isn't around (Steve thinks he went to spend some time with Grace) and neither is Chin, having gone home to Malia. So it's just the two of them, Steve and Kono, and when she asks if he wants to go get those drinks after all, he doesn't mention the fact that the other two aren't there and goes along with it.

They take his pickup truck and make small talk during the way, keeping the mood light and getting quite a few laughs out of each other. She doesn't bother changing because she kind of already came in to work not so 'professionally', wearing a pair of (really) short denim shorts and a tight black tank top. When they finally get to the bar, Kono realizes that they didn't even discuss where they were going, so she guesses Steve comes here often.

It's only when they get in that she gets the reason why.

It's completely over-crowded. The music is **loud** and you can get lost here. That's exactly the point. He's no one here. And she doubts that these kinds of people would recognize him. Kono chuckles imperceptibly. Who knew their boss had this side in him?

She feels his hand on her back, guiding her through the mass of people and towards the bar. It takes a few minutes to even find two seats available, but when they do, the first thing on their minds is to order two cool beers. They'll probably only get there in twenty minutes, anyway.

And so they talk. About everything. Guns (of course), work, Danny (they mock him), Chin, surf, the beach (she learns he has this _awesome_ view of the beach she hadn't noticed the last time she was there), swimming, and… everything, really. It surprises Steve how **easy** it is to talk to her, just talk. And he finds himself wondering why they never did this before. Hang out together, just the two. He even gives her a few tips with the sniper rifle. She gets that contagious smile of her whenever that comes up (he suspects it has something to do with it being what they actually share, being awesome and badass at their jobs) and he can't help but smile back.

And they spend the night like that. They keep ordering beers, and then they move on to shots (tequila only), and too soon they're more than a little bit tipsy and they're laughing at pretty much anything. But here's the thing: he has a _lot_ more experience in this kind of thing than her, which is why while she has probably lost the ability of thinking clearly right now, his mind is still in order and clear. And so he takes this opportunity.

And somehow, he does get her to talk about Adam.

She seems lost as she talks about him, focusing on a spot over the bar and he watches her mind drift over to the time they spent together, and how much she enjoyed it. Again, he wonders how the team even missed it. How **he** missed it.

"When did it happen?" He asks, looking at her expectantly. She frowns and turns towards him, clearly thinking back and trying to pin point the first time they noticed each other.

"I don't know." She ends up answering, turning back to her beer bottle (they ordered beers again) and swiping her thumb over the label. "OK, sorry, that's a lie." She admits, the corner of her lips twitching up into a smile, and she looks at him. "11th April. The day I caught the biggest wave in months." He notices how her eyes light up at the memory. "And I ran in to him. Don't judge, that's what actually happened."

His eyes get distant suddenly, and her frowns returns. "What? I'm serious, that's what happened."

"No- I know, I believe you." He clears his throat, taking a big gulp of his beer as his eyes swipe over her face. When he puts his beer down, he finally finds his words. "We had a fight that day."

The frown is almost immediately replaced from her face by a raised eyebrow, most likely not expecting that to come out of his mouth. "How do you remember that?"

He shakes his head. "I just do." He declares.

He feels more than sees her hand, warm and reassuring on his knee, and her bright eyes looking up at him. "It's not your fault."

"It kind of is." He answers with a snort, finishing his beer.

She closes her eyes, turning to the bartender and ordering two more. They sit in silence for a moment before she starts talking. "I was the one that got too close to him. I mean, I told you, he was cute and nice and we ran into each other and it just happened. It was amazing for the following weeks and I was _happy_, I was really, really happy and the fact that it was just our little secret…" she trails off. "… I think it just made it better. And I just refused to believe he could be dirty. He was a totally different guy with me and I couldn't believe he would do the things we accused him to and-"

"Kono." Steve interrupts, getting her to look at him. "Stop talking about him." He says with a teasing smirk.

She blushes under his gaze and takes another gulp from the beer that just arrived. "Sorry." She murmurs. "I just… can't seem to get him out of my mind."

Again there's a silence between the two. She doesn't even realize what's happening until she feels him leaning in towards her (it doesn't really take much, the stools are already pretty close to each other) and then his lips touch hers. Her eyes close on reflex, but she doesn't kiss him back until his hand brushes her cheek, coming to cup the back of her neck and push her mouth harder against his.

It's not at all passionate or romantic or anything like that. Even though she does kiss him back. And even though she does feel the familiar heat pooling in her belly.

He doesn't even try to slip his tongue into her mouth, instead just moves his lips against hers slowly, languidly, perfectly. When he pulls back, she can't bring herself to open her eyes. But he's talking.

"That get your mind out of it for…" he looks down at his watch. "… ten seconds?" he finishes, eyes shining in amusement and smirk present on his features.

She chooses her next words carefully and tries to push back the memory of what he told her in HQ, about Adam not deserving her, way back into her mind, and telling herself one more time that it really wasn't a sign or anything, and she's actually successful at ignoring it, because- did he really just _**kiss**_ her?

"Yes." she answers, ignoring the way his eyes light up the littlest bit at that. She leans back on her stool, putting some distance between them, and takes a sip of her beer. "Thank you." She says, and smiles. He laughs lightheartedly and makes a gesture as if saying she has nothing to thank him for.

"My pleasure."

**Authors note: So, what did you guys think? Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Make sure you leave a review with your opinion, ok? You're all so awesome!**

**Ok, hope to see you in my next update! Bye now!**


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